Car Accident, Not at Fault, Insurance Question

[sam_gordon]

An additional concern is that I had an accident in 2018 where I was at fault. My car was totaled and there were injuries in the other car. My insurance company paid, raised my rates and didn’t drop me. The “accident forgiveness” mentioned. So, I’m also worried that I might get dropped if I file through my insurance even though she’s not at fault.

I’ll check the rules for reporting to insurance in Colorado and my home state.

Also check your insurance policy. Even if there's no law, you need to abide by the policy.

 

[_19disnA]

If I had an accident I would contact my insurance company and let them handle it. That is part of why you have insurance and they know the steps to take to resolve it. I can't see any advantage in trying to contact the other person's insurance on your own and seems that could cause issues in who agrees to do what/how things are handled/etc.

I doubt that your child planning to get their own insurance in the future would make any difference on how to report this accident. Each insurance company might be different about what they ask of new customers.

I believe states require you to have insurance, but no idea if you have to report every accident. What if the damage is minor and you decide to pay for it on your own? I don't see anything wrong in doing that so your rates don't go up in the future. Many states also won't send out the police unless there are injuries so you might have more of a challenge getting a police report to be filed.

 

[tvguy]

If I had an accident I would contact my insurance company and let them handle it. That is part of why you have insurance and they know the steps to take to resolve it. I can't see any advantage in trying to contact the other person's insurance on your own and seems that could cause issues in who agrees to do what/how things are handled/etc.

I doubt that your child planning to get their own insurance in the future would make any difference on how to report this accident. Each insurance company might be different about what they ask of new customers.

I believe states require you to have insurance, but no idea if you have to report every accident. What if the damage is minor and you decide to pay for it on your own? I don't see anything wrong in doing that so your rates don't go up in the future. Many states also won't send out the police unless there are injuries so you might have more of a challenge getting a police report to be filed.

I just don't get why sooo many people don't seem to realize that you are paying your insurance company for two things, coverage, and to handle any incidents you have.
Having to report an accident varies from state to state. Generally speaking if there are any injuries, it has to be reported, and if there is more than $1,000 in damage. New York, California $1,000 is nothing these days. Some states like Nevada, Washington, and Florida require EVERY accident to be reported to the state, although not sure how many people do that.

 

[Nancyg56]

An additional concern is that I had an accident in 2018 where I was at fault. My car was totaled and there were injuries in the other car. My insurance company paid, raised my rates and didn’t drop me. The “accident forgiveness” mentioned. So, I’m also worried that I might get dropped if I file through my insurance even though she’s not at fault.

I’ll check the rules for reporting to insurance in Colorado and my home state.

I bet they already know. last month my husband was involved in a fender bender in a MA parking lot. I sent a message to our agent as soon as he got in, he was at fault. Within minutes I received a text message and an email message from the other guys insurance company. Then our agent called. He told me that he had not initiated anything, but that insurance companies are all kind of hooked into the same system. The other company could get contact information, etc from my husband's information that he provided to the other person.

If this was me, I would report the accident.

 

[sam_gordon]

I just don't get why sooo many people don't seem to realize that you are paying your insurance company for two things, coverage, and to handle any incidents you have.
Having to report an accident varies from state to state. Generally speaking if there are any injuries, it has to be reported, and if there is more than $1,000 in damage. New York, California $1,000 is nothing these days. Some states like Nevada, Washington, and Florida require EVERY accident to be reported to the state, although not sure how many people do that.

Reporting to the state/police and reporting to YOUR insurance company are different things.

 

[tvguy]

Reporting to the state/police and reporting to YOUR insurance company are different things.

Yes they are. But I suspect if most of us check our policies, we are also supposed to report it to the insurance company, and in some states that is the law also.

 

[sam_gordon]

Yes they are. But I suspect if most of us check our policies, we are also supposed to report it to the insurance company, and in some states that is the law also.

I still don't understand why a law was made to file with insurance companies.

 

[tvguy]

I still don't understand why a law was made to file with insurance companies.

Well, probably several reasons.
1) To protect consumers
2) Because insurance companies lobbied ($$$$) state Legislatures to pass such a law.

 

[disneychrista]

Yea, I didn't know that, and I can't find information for my state (other than reporting to police if there's an injury or more than $500 in damage).

Report it to the cops and to your insurance company.

When I had my accident the at fault party immediately called the cops and they refused to come or take a report because there was no injuries. I have no clue what damage their truck had but my car had close to $7,000 worth of damage.

 

[disneychrista]

I still don't understand why a law was made to file with insurance companies.

Isn't that what you have insurance for? In case you have an accident. IMO it is always good to have someone on YOUR side in a not at a fault accident.

 

[sam_gordon]

Well, probably several reasons.
1) To protect consumers
2) Because insurance companies lobbied ($$$$) state Legislatures to pass such a law.

How does it accomplish #1?
And #2 makes sense, but I still don't see the benefit to the insurers unless they'll potentially use the knowledge to raise rates.

 

[sam_gordon]

Isn't that what you have insurance for? In case you have an accident. IMO it is always good to have someone on YOUR side in a not at a fault accident.

As I said in my first post, if the at fault party is honest and ethical and their insurance also is, you shouldn't need anyone on YOUR side. If the at fault party DOESN'T admit fault, OR their insurance drags their feet, tries to short change you, or similar, then yes, you want someone to help.

 

[disneychrista]

As I said in my first post, if the at fault party is honest and ethical and their insurance also is, you shouldn't need anyone on YOUR side. If the at fault party DOESN'T admit fault, OR their insurance drags their feet, tries to short change you, or similar, then yes, you want someone to help.

What would be the reasons to NOT contact your insurance company and let them handle the claim with the other parties insurance?

 

[sam_gordon]

What would be the reasons to NOT contact your insurance company and let them handle the claim with the other parties insurance?

You're adding another level of bureaucracy into the process, potentially slowing down a claim.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I would file wit insurance company. You have no idea what others might do or say.

 

[disneychrista]

You're adding another level of bureaucracy into the process, potentially slowing down a claim.

In my experience, they expedited the claim not slowing it down. Because I had reported it to my insurance my car was able to start getting repaired while things were getting worked out with the other parties insurance.

My car was finished being repaired by the time things with the other insurance company was done, 5 days later.

 

[robinb]

View attachment 925973

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

What would be the reasons to NOT contact your insurance company and let them handle the claim with the other parties insurance?

There are some reasons but just to understand it there's filing a claim and then there's reporting an accident. If you suspect the damages to be under or close to your deductible filing a claim either would be denied or not worth the increase on your policy. At-fault/not at fault and impact to your policy premium vary by state and product someone is under. There is also the loss is ineligible and sometimes people know that too.

The OP suspects a totaled car so this isn't necessarily that situation but I have seen claims denied because the damage was below the deductible, I've also seem claims filed for $800 damages (deductible being $500 in that situation) and the policy premium increase being nearly that amount (driver was in their 80s). A person's policyback (what their policy covers and doesn't cover) often has language regarding just when the insurance company must be notified.

I'm typically in favor of going through your own insurance just answering the inquiry regarding some reasons not to.

 

[robinb]

Whoops! Wrong thread. I'll be back.

 

[monsterkitty]

An additional concern is that I had an accident in 2018 where I was at fault. My car was totaled and there were injuries in the other car. My insurance company paid, raised my rates and didn’t drop me. The “accident forgiveness” mentioned. So, I’m also worried that I might get dropped if I file through my insurance even though she’s not at fault.

I’ll check the rules for reporting to insurance in Colorado and my home state.

I'm in Colorado and can tell you my experience. I may also be able to guess which mountain pass you're talking about because I've probably driven that pass.

It has been about 5-7 years so laws may have changed a bit. And like someone has said, the terms and conditions of your policy my require more than the state law does.

In Colorado you must report accidents immediately that involve injuries, death, or more than $1000 worth of damage. If not, you can be ticketed for leaving the scene of the accident, even if you report it the next day. If the accident did not meet these criteria, you have 60 days to report (may be 90 days). If the accident occurred during an accident alert in place, you have 24 hours to report the accident.

An example on reporting in CO, my car was hit in the parking lot of the pool we were getting ready to open at the beginning of the summer. It was a cashier who hit my car and one of my former students, so I knew him and his grandmother well. He had no insurance. There was no working phone at the pool yet and it was before cell phones, so I had to go to another location to report the accident and then go back to the location of the accident. Even though it was less than 2 hours, the officer told me he could write me a ticket for leaving the scene even though I did not cause the accident. This law has not changed so they may issue tickets to both drivers for leaving the scene for a reportable accident.

The person who hit your daughter would have also been ticketed for not having tires for the driving conditions. During the winter, snow tires or all-season tires are required for mountain driving, and you can be stopped and ticketed if you do not have them. You will receive a ticket if you are involved in an accident if you do not have the correct tires, even if you are not at fault.

One year I had 3 claims totally over $13,000 on my car and my rates never went up because I was not at fault. 1 was hail damage, 1 was an uninsured driver, the other was from a stolen ATV that was fleeing the scene of the crime. My insurance company did send me a thank you card when I sold this car.